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Activities and Resources

Activities

What's In Your Water?

The federal government requires public water systems to provide homeowners with annual water quality reports. The reports tell homeowners where their drinking water originates, which contaminants are showing up in the water, and how susceptible the water is to contamination. The reports also include educational information. Have a student or adult request your community's water quality report (some are available online). As a class, discuss the report. What is in your community's water? Have students research each item listed and its potential dangers or benefits to their health.

Looking for Smart Stuff? Click here to download (PDF).

Answers to this week's SmartStuff are listed on Page 2 of the Issue 21 Teacher's Guide that accompanies Current Events magazine.

Resources

To download the Teacher's Guide click here (PDF).

What's In Your Water

To learn about other ways to check water quality, click here.
For games and experiments that teach students about water quality, try the National Park Service Web site.
Students involved in the Pontiac, Ill., drug drop-off program offer advice on their Web site for setting up similar programs.
Learn about water and the water cycle from the Water Education Foundation.

Paper or Plastic?

Scientists picked through the New York City trash to find out exactly what goes into the landfills. The city has a recycling program, but the scientists still found that a lot of recyclable materials were thrown out instead. Have students study the pie charts breaking down the contents of the New York City trash. Ask them what they can learn from those charts. Do they think New York City's recycling program is doing a good job? Where is it falling short? Have students write proposals for how New York City (or your city) could improve its recycling program.
Learn more about plastics from the American Chemistry Council.
Learn common misconceptions about recycling plastics at The Ecology Center.

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